New Player Guide

Dystopia New Player Guide

Revised for 1.2

General Overview

Dystopia takes place in a high-tech futuristic world spanned by computer networks. It revolves around the conflict between two factions, the Punk Mercenaries (Punks) and the Corporate Security Forces (Corps). Players choose to join either of these two factions and battle against each other in tense combat situations in two parallel environments, the physical world (Meatspace) and virtual world (Cyberspace) with actions in one having an effect on the other, and vice versa. The gameplay is objective focused in which both the Punks and the Corps fight against each other to complete a series of objectives in order to win the round, with one team's objectives normally preventing the opposing team from completing their objectives. Both teams are given a set amount of time to complete the map's objectives, with one team attacking whilst the other team defends. The attacking team must capture all of the defending team's objectives before the time runs out, whilst the defending team must prevent the attacking team from capturing their objectives.

Once you've joined a Dystopia Server, you'll need to navigate your way through the Loadout Menu. The images below explain what the different areas in the Loadout Menu mean. You can hover your mouse over each of the weapons and implants to read the descriptions.

Team Selection.

When you first enter the game you will have be presented with four options: a choice between the two teams, Punk Mercenaries (Punks) and Corporate Security Forces (Corps); Auto Assign which automatically assigns you to one of the two teams; spectator which is used to watch the game.

Class Selection.

You will then be able to choose from three different classes, Light, Medium, and Heavy Augmented Armour with each class having their own unique strengths and weakness with varying amounts of health and armour.

The light class is the quickest and most agile of the three classes that a player can choose from but is also the weakest. The light class is the only class that is able to utilize the stealth implant and has the most implant space out of all three of Dystopia's player classes.

The medium class is the most versatile and well-balanced of the three classes that a player can choose from. The medium class is the middle class with average speed, armour, and implant space.The heavy class is the slowest of the three classes that a player can choose from, but has the greatest amount of armour and health with minimal space for implants.

Weapon Selection.

Light: The four unique weapons that this class has access to are the Shotgun: shoots pellets that disperse over range and is deadly at close range, Boltgun: fires three electric bolts individually which can be 'bounced' off surfaces if fired at a shallow enough angle, Laser Rifle: a charge-up laser rifle that shoots a high energy beam being most effective over long ranges and Dual Smartlock Pistols: thirty shot pistols that give a bonus to accuracy when the target is "tagged" with the secondary tracer bullets. The Light class carries three EMP grenades which disable enemy implants and energy regeneration for a temporary amount of time.

Medium: The four unique weapons that this class has access to are the Assault Rifle: a standard Issue forty round gun where the rate of fire increases the longer the trigger is held down, Mk-808 Rifle: a semi-automatic medium power rifle that is effective in larger open areas, Grenade Launcher: fires four grenades individually and at long ranges it turns into a useful artillery weapon and the Tesla Rifle: emits a short arc of electricity that damages anyone within its range and its secondary fire can be devastating when used in tight corridors. The medium class carries two Frag grenades, which deal large amounts of explosive damage.

Heavy: The four unique weapons that this class has access to are the RocketLauncher: fires a rocket that does massive splash damage and will follow the laser pointer on the screen, Minigun: spews out a continuous stream of bullets which causes massive amounts of damage but at a cost to mobility, Ion Cannon: fires a blue beam with perfect accuracy that does high damage at close range, and medium damage at long range and the Basilisk: a automatic shotgun that fires three high impact pellets with average accuracy and is effective at medium to short range. The heavy class carries two spider grenades, which chase after enemies.

Implant Selection.

After selecting a class and a primary weapon you can then further customize your selected character class by equipping different class based special abilities called implants. Each class has a different amount of Headspace and Bodyspace available for implants; the heavier the class, the less space for implants. The implants available for players to choose from are:

• Headspace:- Cyberdeck - Allows the user to Jack-In to Cyberspace via JIPs (Jack-In Points) throughout the map.- Enhanced Cyberdeck - A less space-friendly Cyberdeck implant that adds additional security programs and a mini-game to speed up security programs.- TAC (Target Acquisition & Correlation) Scanner - Scans the local area for IFF frequencies and displays them to the users and team-mates.- Thermal Vision - Turns on heat-signature tracking vision.- Sound Wave Triangulator (SWT) - Tracks sounds of enemy movement and action through walls.- IFF Info - Shows stats such as health and energy for enemy players as well as IFF on enemy grenades and health on turrets.- Cortex Bomb - A self-destructive explosive device that triggers at low health.

Alright, you have finished selecting your loadout and are now ready to get into the game! Keep in mind that you can always change your loadout by hitting the "M" key. (default)

Regarding Team play

The central premise of Dystopia is the co-dependence of players fighting in the real world and players decking in the virtual world.

The number one priority for each team in a round of Dystopia is having their decker’s real world (Meatspace) body protected while he's busy in the virtual world (Cyberspace). With only a few exceptions, it is always best for your team to have at least one decker. Having multiple deckers on you team is always far better than having just the one.

The best piece of advice is that no matter what loadout you select you can be an asset to your team; you'll also be rewarded with points for helping your team in many different ways. The four most helpful things you can do for your team-mates are:

1) Protect your decker's Meatspace body from enemy players2) Select the mediplant implant and stay close to your team-mates3) Select the TAC Scanner implant and point out enemies for your team (when you scan, all near by team-mates benefit from it)4) Select the Cyberdeck (practise the Cyberspace layout of each of the maps before you join a server otherwise you will be more of a hindrance than a help to your team)

Pressing tab not only shows you the current scores and the current status of your fellow team mates, it also makes your objective list visible. This will show you what phase the round is currently in and what your team's objective is.

Floating Around in Cyberspace

So you've selected to be a Light or Medium class with the Cyberdeck Implant, and you're looking to get into Cyberspace. Well, first you need to know what to do in there. Right?

First you'll need to find a Jack-In Point. They can be located easily by finding a "yellow Cyberdeck icon" on your Radar screen. When you're close enough to one to be able to Jack-In, your Cyberdeck Implant will begin to pulse to let you know. Press the Cyberdeck's hotkey (Default F1) or press the use key (bound to “e” by default), which turns the implant on, and the next thing you know, you'll be in Cyberspace!

***Recommend saving this for future reference***

When you get into Cyberspace, the first thing you'll notice is that the physics and movement is very strange. There is no up or down, as there is no gravity.

Move forward and press your jump key to get out of the Cyberspace Spawn and begin moving down the link to get to a server. High speeds can be obtained throughout Cyberspace by holding your jump key. (As another small tip for advanced players, try using the Projectile Attack as a Rocket Jump to propel you forwards).

You can also adjust your mouse sensitivity in Cyberspace by using the “cybersensitivity” command in the console.

When inside a Server, follow the grey paths (paths may be a different colour depending on the network representation) to switch your relative floor, and move your way to a Node. These are the areas of Cyberspace that control a real world element. The part of the real world they control is defined both in and on top of the Node.

When you go to walk into the Node you might notice a wall with 0's and 1's flying across it, this is an Ice Barrier. The colour of the Ice Barrier determines who has access to the Node and who doesn't. Don't worry though; most Ice Barriers can be broken to allow you into the Node itself.

You have a couple of options depending on which implant you have. It is highly recommended that you use the "Ice Scan" first to display any protection programs that might have been placed on the wall. After you run your "Ice Scan" you will see the physical representation of what is currently on the wall.

If there you see something that looks like a land mine then there is an "Ice Mine" on the Node. Watch out, if you use a "Wedge" on the Node the “Ice Mine” will get triggered and start chasing you!

Another object you might see is a loudspeaker. This is an "Ice Alarm" - no matter what you do this thing is going to go off with a loud noise alerting the enemy team that this wall has been broken and you are going to want to watch your back as an enemy decker is likely on his way!

One last thing to be cautious of when decking a node is "Green Ice", when touched this is going to knock you out of Cyberspace disabling all your implants and energy regeneration for a temporary amount of time. If you use an “Ice Breaker” before you use an “Ice Scan” the same thing will happen. The best way to get past a “Green Ice” is to either use a “Wedge”, disabling the wall temporarily, or use “Ice Scan” and then an "Ice Breaker."

Now that you have gotten past the outer security it is time to hack the screen!

Now that you have gotten past the outer security it is time to hack the screen!When you move close to the screen, you'll get a box pop up on the right hand side of your screen which tells you you're close enough to start using a program. You will either have to use a "Password Breaker" or a "Decryption." Remember that it takes longer to break an "Encryption" so keep an eye on your back.

If you take an "Enhanced Cyberdeck" don't forget to use the mini game that appears. You can drastically reduce the amount of time taken to deck by pressing the button corresponding to the action that is being run. If it says "Packet Encapsulator" on the screen then click the button that says “Packet Encapsulator”. Watch out though, if you click the wrong button you will delay your program and have to wait a little bit longer for it to finish.

Once you've decrypted the Node, you can affect the real world element as well as begin to re-encrypt the Node. When the Node is encrypted with either an "Encryption" or a "Password" Cyberspace program, it means that the enemy decker will need to use a “Decryptor” or “Password Cracker” before they can control the real world element and you and any of your team-mates mass pass through the “Ice Barrier” freely. Remember that an encryption is stronger than a password and the two programs will not stack!

If you happen to come across an enemy decker in Cyberspace, you can shoot at them with hitscan, shaft or projectile attacks. Projectile is bound to mouse2 by default, and pressing reload or using your scroll wheel will toggle mouse1 between activating the Hitscan or Shaft attacks. Each hit that the enemy decker suffers reduces their energy until it reaches 0 when they will be jacked out of Cyberspace leaving behind a cyber-shard that can be taken to replenish energy. You can exit Cyberspace by pressing the Cyberdeck's hotkey (Default F1).

The HUD Explained

To get a detailed description of the HUD Elements, click to enlarge the following images.